In the pharmaceutical industry, a pharmacist dispenses medicines and drugs to consumers. Typically, a manufacturer makes these medicines and drugs. A physician generally writes a prescription to the patient/consumer who takes the prescription to the patient's pharmacist where the prescription is filled.
This invention is primarily directed to those medicines and drugs that are ingestible, that are dispensed in a pill and tablet form, a liquid, or topical lotions.
Generally, pills and tablets come in a myriad of shapes and colors, some with markings thereon from the manufacturer, and liquids also come in colors. These markings represent information and may include numbers, letters, color and other indicia, etc.
Additionally, at the time of filling the prescription additional information is provided to the patient/consumer regarding information, warnings and directions regarding use of and taking of the prescribed medicine (hereinafter information). It is desirable to attach this information to the container for the medication for the patient, and it has now become a requirement in some states for this information to appear and be affixed to the container-of the medication. This information is specific to the patient and to the dispensed medication. Therefore the information can only be determined at the time of dispensing the medication to the patient. The filler of the prescription, e. g. the pharmacist or the pharmacist's technician, must make the determination of the disclosed information at time of filling the prescription. However there is more information required than there is space on the container to place the information in a visually readable format. Additionally, new regulations may require laws and manufacturers of medicines to place more information on the container label.
These prescription labels are typically placed on a cylindrical medicine container having a replaceable top that typically screws on or snaps onto the container to seal it. The containers are often called vials and are of a variety of sizes, a common size, but not limited to this size, is nine (9) drams. For this size vial a typical label has an adhesive backing and is three and one quarter (3 ¼) inches wide and two (2) inches tall.
Pharmacies are also verifying prescription medications more often to reduce medical errors that occur in the fast paced world of drug dispensing. It is believed that time constraints prevent pharmacists from implementing more error-prevention procedures.
The present invention, a label format, offers an information tab providing additional printable space and informational space that will allow the pharmacist, pharmacy technicians and the consumer to visually verify that the medication prescribed is exactly what it is supposed to be, as well as provide more printed information for the consumer. This provides the fastest, easiest system to reduce errors where errors are unacceptable.
The present invention provides a solution to problems associated with drug dispensing; wrong dosage, wrong drug given, wrong route of administration, failure to warn patients of potential hazards and proper instructions on use. This removes any inhibitions of implementation of medication error-prevention procedures, satisfying the work overload and constant time pressures in today's pharmacies and hospitals.
The enlarged label format of the present invention provides legibility of the medication specifics; visual verification for accuracy in medication; visual representation may satisfy current OBRA 90 laws (4) on verbally informing the patient of the medication they are receiving; specific clock designation for accurate use of medication; simplifies the Warnings and Indications labeling required for each individual medication; flexibility for multiple languages; NDC code number for obtaining all of the specific properties of the medication; UPC bar code for confirming drug medication for verification procedures as well as constant inventory management for a controlled substance; enhances product compliance features; and is a solution for error-prevention procedures in medication dispensing.
Pharmacists use pharmacy systems to check, verify and recheck that the proper medicine/drug prescribed is actually filled into the container. These systems may be manual or written as have been practiced for years and may be paper systems or computerized systems. However, what is lacking is a way for a consumer, typically the patient, to make his or her own verification that the proper medicine has been dispensed.
In the prior art of pharmaceutical labels it is known to use laser print forms such as those sold by Convergent Label Technology, of Tampa, Fla. These type of forms provide a pharmaceutical label attached at the top of a sheet of paper, generally 8 ½ inches by 11 or 14 inches, that is capable of being loaded into a sheet fed printer, such as a laser printer or ink jet printer, known in the art and which are sheet fed, one at a time from a stack of preloaded sheets in the printer. The pharmaceutical label then has information printed thereon by the printer. Thereafter, the label contains the prescription and other information. The label is then peeled off and placed on a medicine container by the pharmacist or the pharmacist's assistant. Typically, these labels are placed around the circumference of the container and have, when attached to the sheet of paper, a pressure sensitive backing to allow the label to be peeled from the sheet of paper and then attached by the adhesive to the container. However, the labels are limited to attachment directly to the container and there is no provision for an information tab as in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,314 provides a label that requires multiple folds and layers to be attached to the container. Specifically, by removing the top face 22, record 26 is detached for placement on a record keeping log and portion 28 is likewise removable by the patient. This teaches away from the present invention by not keeping all record information visible with the container. The present invention does not require multiple layers of the label to be attached to the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,827 provides a manufactures' label for use to be affixed by a drug manufacturer as a description and instruction label for the pharmacist. It generally requires pre-printing on both sides of the label sheet. It is intended to be removed to leave space for affixing the pharmacy's own standard type of prescription label. The present invention does not require printing on both sides of the label that would require an extra step.
The label disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,827of is a preassembled and pre-folded label by a label machine and is not folded by hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,058, discloses a label for undersized containers, that wraps around the container and adheres one end of the label to the other end of the label, without regard to the actual circumference of the container being used. This label requires printing on the label to correspond to the container size. It also requires an exact alignment of the two loose ends so that there is no exposed adhesive. The '058 patent requires a determination of a middle point of the label for accurate alignment, not required in the present invention. Likewise the present invention allows for easier attachment of the label.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,523 discloses a pharmaceutical label, having a pull tab 18 for tearing off a first and second detachable section of the label. This is contrary to the present invention, which does not require removal of a part of the label.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,645,300, 5,727,819, 5,263,743, Re.34,366, 5,472,756, and 4,621,837 are all preprinted self adhesive labels, printed one at a time, and are printed at or about the time of dispensing the medicine in the container. U.S. Pat. No. 1,756,944 is a two sided label, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,077,684 a luggage tag label, is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,058 that has a center portion with no adhesive and two loose ends that must be placed together. None of the prior art teaches or suggests the novelty of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,017 discloses a label bearing a visual photographic image of a pill. However, it does not teach extending a label for additional information as in the present invention.
Additionally, over the last two decades, the use of thermal systems to generate images on various types of paper stocks has significantly increased due to various advantages for particular applications. There are two basic types of thermal systems, thermal transfer systems in which a material is transferred from one stratum to a stock sheet, and direct thermal transfer in which a thermosensitive coating is provided on the stock and indicia formed by chemical or physical processes in the coating as a result of bringing particularly shaped thermal elements into contact with the stock. Both systems use thermal print heads consisting of miniature resisters that are either in a straight line or a matrix, and become heated in response to current pulses.
One particular area where thermal printing has been used advantageously is in the printing of baggage tags, such as for airlines or trains. Tags made of direct thermal stock may be simply produced on site to include a wide variety of variable images, including bar coding.
The prior art, however, does not address the need for an on-demand, real-time printing of an extended tab label for pharmacy applications.